Thursday, 21 April 2011

Orbit Announces International Publication of Digital Novella

From the press release...

SF and Fantasy imprint Orbit has announced that it will be publishing a new novella by New York Times bestselling author Brent Weeks simultaneously in the US and the UK , in both ebook and digital audio editions. Perfect Shadow, set in the world of his popular Night Angel Trilogy, will be released in June.

Orbit Publisher Tim Holman says: ‘The digital marketplace provides an irresistible opportunity to publish shorter works of fiction. With over a million copies sold worldwide since its launch in 2008, Brent Weeks ’ Night Angel Trilogy has become one of the fastest selling fantasy series of all time. Publishing a new novella set in the same world, and doing so simultaneously around the world in ebook and audio editions, has been a really exciting publishing challenge – and working with Brent and his agent, Don Maass, to make it happen has been terrific.’

Brent Weeks says: ‘When I wrote Perfect Shadow, I was afraid it was going to fall into a publishing no-man’s land: too short to be distributed as a novel, too long to be sold as a short story. Orbit’s digital publishing has given me a way to get this story out. More than that, it’s given me the artistic freedom to write a story exactly as long as it needs to be.’

The ebook edition of Perfect Shadow will be available from ebook stores worldwide from June 2011. It will be simultaneously released as an unabridged audiobook for digital download.

Good news there for fans of Brent Weeks but perhaps only good news for those fans with e-readers (although the downloadable audiobook should balance things out somewhat I suppose). I've got a lot of catching up to do with this author (having only read the first book); how excited are you by this news? Is Weeks an author worth totally throwing my reading order out for?